News and views about the implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009 and other legislation, schemes and policies impacting the Right to Education of India's Children.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Protest against direction to schools to buy book on festivals

Members of the United Minorities Front staged a protest
here on Saturday against the government for directing school libraries
to buy
Bharatiyara Habba Haridinagalu
(Festivals of Indians), a 640-page book.

The book
written by Sri Sri Rangapriya, a Sanskrit scholar and head of
Asthangayoga Vijnana Mandiram here, makes a mention of only Hindu
festivals and does not mention Ramzan, Christmas, Good Friday and Buddha
Poornima. The Department of State Education Research and Training has
directed government primary and high schools to buy at least one copy of
the book for their libraries.

Condemning the move,
Hanuman C. of the United Minorities Front, said: “This is saffronisation
of education. The book gives an impression that no other community
exists.”

Dalit Sangharsh Samiti secretary Mavalli
Shankar said: “India is a multi-religious nation and the government
should not try to scuttle this reality”. He added that the government is
not following the Indian Constitution.

A book on ‘Indian’ festivals omits non-Hindu occasions

A reference book on festivals observed by ‘Indians,’
prescribed by the Karnataka government for school libraries across the
State, carries in it only those observed by Hindus.

While
30 pages of ‘Bharatiyara Habba Haridinagalu’ (or Festivals of Indians)
are dedicated to explaining Upakarma, there is not a single word on
Ramzan, Good Friday, Buddha Purnima, or any non-Hindu festival
celebrated in the country.

A December 2011 circular
sent by the Directorate of State Educational Research and Training
(DSERT) directs primary and high schools to buy at least one copy of the
book for their library.

640 pages

At
a voluminous 640 pages, the Kannada book written by Sri Sri Rangapriya,
Sanskrit scholar and head of the Ashtangayoga Vijnana Mandiram,
Hanumanthnagar, Bangalore, is priced at Rs. 500.

While
the cover of the book primarily features Hindu iconography — the sage
and the holy cow, ‘kalash’ (offerings given during a Hindu ritual), a
temple gopura and devotees with hands joined in prayer — the rest of the
book doesn’t deviate from the Hinduism theme.

‘Reflecting

Indian culture’

The DSERT, in its circular, describes the contents of the book as “reflecting Indian culture.”

Though
the title says these are festivals celebrated by Indians, the book
manages to cover only the major Hindu religious dates, 23 of them,
besides mentioning birthdays of Hindu religious sages.

From
festivals such as Ugadi, Ramanavami, Ganesh Chaturthi, Deepavali,
Mahashivaratri and Akshaya Tritiya to lesser-known ones such as Subbraya
Shrasthi and Rathasaptami, and even religious days observed primarily
by the upper castes, such as Chathurmasa, Upakarma, Ananthapadmanabha
Vrath and Narasimha Jayanti, are given detailed descriptions in the
book.

Why is it that Ramzan, Id-ul-Fitr, Christmas,
Good Friday, Buddha Purnima, Mahaveer Jayanti and Guru Nanak Jayanti
find no place in the book, asks Nooruddin Salmar of the Dakshina Kannada
Congress Minority Committee.

Talking to
The Hindu
, Mr. Salmar said the manner in which the order was quietly circulated,
pointed to an increasing trend of saffronisation of education and
emphasis on the Hindutva agenda seen under the Bharatiya Janata Party
government.

“Aren’t Muslims, Christians, Jains,
Parsis and animist tribes also Indians? Is it right to teach
schoolchildren that only Hindus are Indians,” he asked.

Charge denied

Denying
a ‘saffron tint’ to the book, DSERT Director Rama Rao said the book was
chosen after the directorate deemed it “educationally suitable” for
students.

“All the festivals mentioned in the book
are celebrated pan-India. I don’t see why anyone has a problem with the
title. One has to look at it with an open mind, and we believe the book
to have adequate information for students,” Mr. Rao said.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Teachers will now not be given assignments like survey and data collection works

Submitted on 07/02/2012 - 10:45:57 AMPatna: Bihar
will no more engage school teachers in non-teaching assignments like
survey and data collection works, an official said Saturday. The
decision comes after protests by thousands of teachers and experts that
such tasks take a toll on the quality of teaching.
"The school teachers will not be engaged in various kinds of periodic
census and survey works to be assigned either by the central or the
state government for the collection of data on different kinds of
social, economic, health and other activities," Planning and Development
Department (PDD) Principal Secretary Vijay Prakash said.
"School teachers will be free from census and survey works. This is a
positive move to improve equality of education in the state," Prakash
said.
The government's decision comes after complaints of teacher
organisations and educational experts that teachers' engagement in
non-teaching works hampers teaching in schools, he said.http://www.igovernment.in/site/bihar-spare-teachers-non-teaching-jobs?utm_source=newsletter-core&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20120702

Friday, June 29, 2012

Kolkata, June 28 (IANS) A girl student was allegedly stripped in a class by a lady teacher in West Bengal after she ignored the teacher's diktat regarding dress code, police officials said Thursday.

A Class 7 student of the Beri Gopalpur Adarsha Uccha Vidyalaya in Gaighata area of North 24-Parganas district faced the humiliation after she ignored orders about wearing specific uniforms on Thursdays.

"As I didn't wear a particular
dress I am supposed to wear on Thursday according to school rules, the
teacher stripped me off my skirt in front of the whole class," said the
student.

The girl's family later lodged a police complaint.

The school managing committee said the teacher has been taken to task and she has given an undertaking not to repeat her action.

"She has given an undertaking that she won't repeat the act," said school managing committee secretary Basudeb Ghosh.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Over 1,600 children to get free education in Mangalore

Vinobha K T, TNNMay 16, 2012, 07.11AM IST

MANGALORE:
As many as 1,645 economically backward and underprivileged children in
Dakshina Kannada will get free education in class I from this academic
year under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act,
2009.
The department of public instructions on Tuesday issued a
circular directing 143 unaided primary schools in the district to
reserve 25 per cent seats in class I as per Section 12(1)(c) of the act.
Meanwhile, 125 unaided schools in the district, which have minority
status, are exempted from the rule as per the Supreme Court directive.

Poor children in Mangalore taluk education block will get more number
of seats compared to other blocks as the education block has more
unaided primary schools.
As many as 409 poor children will get
free education in 33 unaided schools in the education block. The Sullia
education block has the least number of unaided schools in the district
and only 85 children will get the benefits of RTE there.
Meanwhile, officials of the department of public instructions and Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) are awaiting a fresh circular regarding the
revision of minority school list.
Minister for primary and
secondary education Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri had on Monday said that the
government would issue a circular to review the list of minority
schools.
SSA deputy project coordinator N Shivaprakash said, "We
are waiting for the guidelines for categorizing unaided schools as
minority institutions. We will take action if any unaided school is
found enjoying minority status without adhering to the guidelines. The
department will direct such schools also to reserve 25 per cent seats
for poor."
There are 268 unaided primary schools in the district.

PATNA: Bihar
would rally other state governments around its stand that the Centre
should not only reduce the number of centrally sponsored schemes (CSSs),
or rearrange all of them into its nine flagship schemes, as recommended
by B K Chaturvedi Committee in its report submitted last year, but also
constitute the 'flexi fund' to be given to the respective states asking
them to spend the money so transferred as per their specific needs and
assessment.
Deputy CM and chairman of Empowered Committee of the States' Finance Ministers, Sushil Kumar Modi,
while explaining the position of the state government on the matter
after the conclusion of his weekly Janata Darbar, on Tuesday, said he
would write letters in this regard to all the state governments as all
the CMs in the country share the same stand on the matter.

"The
safest option is to write letters to them, which I will do. Besides, I
am also the chairman of the Empowered Committee of States' Finance
Ministers. We can build pressure on the Centre," said Modi, adding that
finance ministers of the respective states, in the pre-budget meeting
convened by Union finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee,
in Delhi on January 19 this year, had put across their point of view on
the matter. But the latter, it being the pre-budget meeting, "did not
commit anything, and, therefore, there is the need to increase pressure
on the Centre," he said.
Modi said if the Centre agreed to
implement the recommendations of Chaturvedi Committee, it would be
hugely beneficial to all the states, including the "poor and resource
starved ones", and the Centre, too, would be in a better position to
monitor the schemes. The states have also demanded that the Centre
should give the money to them for incorporation into their budgets,
instead of sending directly to the implementing agencies.
Giving
details of the salient points of recommendations, Modi said that the
"flexi fund" would amount to 20% of the total fund coming to any state
under the CSS, but the states concerned would be able to utilize the
fund as per the local need and assessment. At present, the total number
of CSS is 147 compared to 213 in 2003-04 and 207 in 2004-05, and the
Chaturvedi Committee has asked the Centre to reduce the number to 59.
Moreover,
the committee has also asked the Centre to merge the smaller schemes
with nine flagship schemes, like MNREGA, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Indira
Awas Yojana, PMGSY, National Rural Health Mission and Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, among others.

MUMBAI:
Though less than a month is left for the new academic session to start,
the school education department is yet to draft a formula for Class I
admissions regarding 25% reservation for economically weaker and
underprivileged students, as per the RTE Act.
School education
minister Rajendra Darda told TOI there are several problems. "We will
have to define income for economically weaker sections. Also, we need to
factor in the share of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other
categories. For this, we have studied the formulae adopted by other
states."

A senior official from the education department said it had secured
information from Andhra Pradesh, New Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram and
Manipur. New Delhi has informed that a student whose parents' income is
less than Rs 1 lakh a year will be considered as belonging to an
economically weaker section (EWS) of society. Madhya Pradesh and Manipur
have fixed this limit at Rs 40,000, and Mizoram at Rs 30,000. The RTE
Act defines an EWS child as one belonging to such parents or guardians
whose annual income is lower than the minimum limit specified by the
appropriate government by notification.
The official said it was
difficult to fix percentages for each category deserving of reservation.
"We are bound by law to provide reservation, but in a class of 32, we
have to provide reservation for eight students (25% of 32) belonging to
SCs, STs and other communities (disadvantaged groups). We feel we will
have to reserve one seat for each community mentioned in the
disadvantaged group."
He said that while in Maharashtra there was
a delay in drafting new rules, particularly on EWS and disadvantaged
groups, a number of states had completed the exercise last year. "We
were waiting for the outcome of a bunch of petitions before the Supreme
Court on the matter."
He said the apex court has upheld the
constitutional validity of the RTE Act, but the state government has the
problem of defining shares of eligible categories in the 25% quota.

The deadlock between the State government and
the private school managements over enforcement of the Right to
Education continued on Tuesday.The Karnataka Unaided
Schools’ Management Association (KUSMA) had said on Monday that it would
defy the 25 per cent quota for weaker sections under the RTE since the
government had not defined a ‘minority institution.’

“To
implement the Act without defining minority institution is much like
sending an invitation to a wedding without deciding who the bride and
groom are,” said Dhananjay, the legal advisor to KUSMA.

He said the schools will approach the court in case the government initiates action for not complying with the Act.

As of now, the schools do not have “concrete dispute” to approach the court, he said. KUSMA has a membership of 1,800 schools.

Commissioner
for Public Instruction Tushar Girinath told Deccan Herald that there
was no mandate for the government to define minority institutions under
the Act as it had already been done in the Indian Constitution.

Niranjan
Aradhya, Fellow, Centre for Child and the Law, National Law School of
India University, said the government need not define a minority
institution at this point of time.

“The term has already been
defined under the Karnataka Education Act, 1983 (Sec 2.21) and the
State government is bound by it,” he said.

The definitionThe
Karnataka Education Act, 1983 defines a minority institution as “A
private educational institution of its choice established and
administered by a minority whether based on religion or language, having
the right to do so under clause (1) of Article 30 of the Constitution”

Aradhya
further said that though he had voiced concerns on exempting minority
institutions from the 25 percent quota (as a large chunk of schools in
the state will fall under the minority category), one cannot defy the
Supreme Court order.

Those concerned may file a review petition
before the Court, but not implementing the Act will amount to contempt
of court, he said.

Tushar Girinath added that the government
cannot specify the nature of action that would be initiated against the
institutions not falling in line.

“We will wait till the deadline is over. Action will be initiated based on specific details”, he said.

The Government of India is
implementing various schemes/programmes for the empowerment of persons with disabilities. The
State-wise details of funds released during the year 2011-12 under the Scheme
of Implementation of Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995 (SIPDA) to make public
buildings accessible to persons with disabilities is enclosed at Annexure.

Grants-in-aid is released to State
Governments/UTs, Universities, Non-Government
Organizations etc. for creation of barrier free environment, providing
assistive devices, special education, vocational training, pre-school programme, vocational rehabilitation centre and early
intervention, through its various schemes/programmes. Special Employment
Exchanges and Special Cells have also been set up for providing placement
services. National Handicapped Finance and Development Corporation (NHFDC) providesconcessional credit for
setting up income generating activities for self-employment. A scheme of
Incentives to Employers in the Private Sector for providing Employment to the
Persons with Disabilities has also been launched to provide the employer’s
contribution for Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and
Employees State Insurance (ESI) for 3 years. A scheme of Inclusive Education
for Disabled at Secondary State (IEDSS) is also implemented to cover disabled
children in Class IX-XII with the aim to enable all students with disabilities
including girls with disabilities to pursue secondary schooling in an inclusive
environment. The Government is implementing SarvaShikshaAbhiyan (SSA) as main programme for universalizing elementary education for all
children from 6-14 years of age. Its overall goals include universal access and
retention, bridging of gender and social category gaps in education and
enhancement of learning levels of children. Under this programme,
Children with Special Needs (CWSN) are also covered. SSA provides Rs.3,000/- per child per annum as a budgetary norm. Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (IGNDPS)
which is one of the schemes of National Social Assistance Programme
(NSAP) provides pension to BPL persons with severe or multiple disabilities
between the age group of 18 to 59 years @ Rs.200 p.m. per beneficiary.

This information was given by the
Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Shri D. Napoleon in a
written reply to a question inLokSabha today.

SKS

Annexure

Statement indicating amount of Grant-in-aid released to States under the
Scheme of Implementation of Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995 (SIPDA) during
2011-12

A proposal to this effect will be sent to the state Teachers Recruitment Board shortly.As
many as 8,401 junior basic teachers had already been recruited to meet
the shortage of teachers during 2011 and 544 posts of teachers in Urdu
had already been advertised, state education minister

Geeta Bhukkal said here on Monday.
She said the government had earmarked over Rs 4,889 crore for elementary education during the current financial year. Education hub
The
state government was committed to develop Haryana as an education hub
and several steps were being taken by the government, she said.

The
minister said under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the award money of those
panchayats which have ensured admission of all girls in the age group of
6-14 in schools had been increased from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh.

During
the tenure of present government, 544 branches of primary schools had
been upgraded to primary schools and 267 primary schools to middle
schools.

The student-teacher ratio in government
schools was better compared to that in private schools, said G Kumar
Naik, Secretary to the Department of Primary and Secondary Education, on
Monday.

The figure was almost 1:26 against the
prescribed 1:30 in government schools. The ratio in private schools is
expected to get better in the next two years, he said.

Naik was
speaking to reporters, after taking part in a workshop on ‘Training
Needs Analysis’ for school teachers, organised by the Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan here. The workshop was held in co-ordination with the Karnataka
Knowledge Commission and Azim Premji Foundation, with an aim to upgrade
the teachers’ skills.

Naik said the government was planning an
orientation camp for teachers in private schools also to cope with the
challenge of dealing with a heterogeneous mix of students, now that the
25 per cent reservation for weaker sections would be in place.

Earlier,
in his address at the workshop, Naik said teachers’ training was as
important as upgrading the syllabus. Naik said the BEd syllabus also
needed to be upgraded and it was expected to be redesigned within two
years. The BEd syllabus needs review at least once in five years, Naik
said.RTE quota to match govt aid

The
greatest challenge for the government right now is to effectively
implement the 25 per cent reservation, Naik told reporters. Apart from
this, the government also has the task of getting the seat matrix right
in government-aided schools. As per the notification issued by the
government recently, the aided schools have to reserve seats for
students from weaker sections matching with the percentage of
grant-in-aid.

For instance, if the expenditure incurred by the
school is Rs 100 and the government grant is Rs 70, then the school has
to reserve 70 per cent of the seats under RTE. This figure will vary
depending on the grant, but it cannot be less than 25 per cent of the
seats.

BANGALORE:�
While schools are gearing up to implement Right to Education (RTE) Act,
nearly 54 per cent of teachers said that they face difficulties in
classroom management, according to a statewide survey.

This
statistic comes from Teacher Needs Analysis (TNA), a feedback
initiative of Karnataka Knowledge Commission (KKC), Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan and Azim Premji Foundation. Teachers who participated in the�
survey said their main problem was managing the educational background
of students and maintaining leadership. The teachers, also said
classroom management is the maintenance of special needs. The survey
covered 24,368 primary and high school teachers across the state.

A programme to familiarise schoolchildren in Dakshina
Kannada district with agriculture and allied activities has been
approved by the Centre, said N. Shivaprakash, Deputy Director of Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan in Dakshina Kannada district.

Guidelines
are now awaited for the programme that has been designed to follow the
recommendation of the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2005 that
children should get exposure to a variety of vocations in the farm
sector, he said.

The aim of the activity is to develop
their cognitive skills and application, thinking, analysing, and
decision-making capabilities. It is aimed at helping students develop
vocational interests, allow self-exploration, inculcate a good work
culture, and reduce the school dropout rate, especially among girl
children.

It will be executed by the district-level
Execution Committee headed by the Deputy Commissioner and the Chief
Executive Officer of the zilla panchayat will execute the programme. The
district-level execution committee will identify and select a “Krushi
Vrutti” (local or regionally dominant farming activity) and get experts
to guide the children. It will select facilitators and orient them on
the activity, identify venues for the activity in all blocks of the
district based on available facilities and accessibility. It will
identify children and monitor them, decide on transport for ‘Krushi
Darshana', the time schedules, route maps, and activity plans. It will
prepare literature and get voluntary organisations or individuals to
support the programme.

The execution committee will
constitute a sub-committee for monitoring and evaluation and devise a
method to evaluate the outcomes and constant feedback.

The
activity will be held at block headquarters, which includes district
head quarters or in the hoblis. A maximum of five venues in a block will
be taken to cover 50 children each and coverage of 6,500 children a
district on an average, said Mr. Shivaprakash.

Students
from all categories will be selected based on equity with the stress on
girls education, urban deprived children (UDC), and minority.

An
amount of Rs. 150 per child will be utilised to provide a day's
exposure (midday meals provided under Midday Meal Scheme). The proposed
target in every district is 4,000 girls, 1,667 students under UDC, and
800 in the minority category. For training 2,500 students, the programme
proposes to spend Rs. 150 a day, an amount of Rs.3.75 lakh.

Renny
D'Souza, Convenor, Dakshina Kannada district, Campaign Against Child
Labour (CACL), said that introducing the NCF means many changes in
teaching. Its approach is to expose students to learning from practical
activities relevant to real life instead of classroom-based teaching.
The ‘Darshana' programme is good step provided the guidelines are
designed correctly for the right impact on students. Otherwise, children
will enjoy an outing with the funds. “It is not a picnic,” he said.

THE PROPOSED amendments to
the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000, which
is being renamed as the Child Justice (Care, Protection and
Rehabilitation of Children) Act, could have far-reaching repercussions.
These changes are based on a survey conducted by the National Commission
for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), which states that teachers who
mete out corporal punishment be severely punished. The survey —
Eliminating Corporal Punishment in Schools — lists some shocking details
such as, 99.86 percent of children have suffered punishment in one form
or the other. It also states that the top five forms of abuse, with an
incidence of over 50 percent, are derisive adjectives, caning, being
slapped on the cheek, hit on the back, and ears getting boxed.

The adjectives used to mete out verbal abuse under the category “derisive adjectives” are: pagal, nalayak, kamchor, bewakoof,
idiot, fool, etc. It is true that these words are reprehensible and
they may cause distress to the child. But it is also important to look
at the proposed penal provisions, which carry jail terms higher than
those in the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Corporal punishment causing simple
injury and emotional distress to the child would carry a jail term of
one year. Subsequent offences could attract a three-year term. If the
child is grievously hurt or subject to severe mental trauma, the teacher
would be given a five-year sentence. Subsequent offences would attract a
seven-year term. The efforts made by the NCPCR are praiseworthy. It is
also true that children constitute about 50 percent of the country’s
population and that child abuse does have a high incidence in India.
However, there is a need to analyse the proposed quantum of punishment
on teachers, as also the larger impact on the education system.

The proposed jail terms are at par with other
heinous offences under the IPC. The idea may be to create a strong
deterrent among teachers and other school staff. However, merely
effecting strong laws is not always the best way out, as laws tend to be
misused, abused and sometimes selectively applied too. Sensitisation of
teachers along with lesser punitive measures may be a better fix.

But there is the larger issue at stake now.
Following the new guidelines for Right To Education, schools need to
follow a ‘no detention policy’, where till Class VIII, the students do
not fail in any class. Further, with the implementation of Continuous
and Comprehensive Evaluation, students no longer have the fear of low
grades due to non-performance in class. While there is a great need to
sensitise teachers about the avoidance of corporal punishment, it is
also important to tie this with the larger issue. I’m aware that India
faces a number of problems related to the ill-treatment and abuse of
children. However, if a child does not study well and as s/he cannot be
detained due to low grades, there is no deterrence for these young
children.

Imagine a scenario where the
teacher is afraid of the student because of a strong law. The child is
aware that s/he does not need to fear the teacher. I guess eliminating
the ‘strict teacher’ fear factor in the teaching-learning process is a
positive thing. But the child also knows that s/he is not going to get
low marks or fail due to non-performance in school. So, where is the
incentive for the child to study? In this scenario, if you add the fact
that there is a higher school dropout rate among marginal communities,
such as poor Muslims, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, we are
looking at a serious problem.

Imagine a scenario where the teacher is afraid of the student because of a strong law

High dropout rates among marginal communities
are there for a number of reasons, some of which could be met with the
mid-day meal scheme and stronger laws against teachers. However,
marginal communities of all sorts, which also include large swathes of
tribal and rural people, are largely out of the education system because
they do not see a match-up between education and employability. So,
while we do need children with no scars, we cannot afford young adults
devoid of all skills.

Arunachalee to serve as NCPCR watchdog in state

Itanagar, May 11 (ANI): Taking serious exception to reports of
rampant violation of human rights of the girl child, particularly in the
name of child marriage, a National Commission for Protection of Child
Rights (NCPCR) team led by Chairperson Professor Shanta Sinha, has
announced plans to appoint an Arunachalee to serve as a watchdog of the
commission in the state.
"This could be the maiden three-day visit
of the NCPCR team, including Member Dipa Dixit and Registrar B.K.Sahu,
since its inception in 2007, but we have been in constant touch with the
GoAP (Government of Arunachal Pradesh) as well as the civil society and
NGOs, who have been filing complaints on violation of child rights,"
Sinha told media here yesterday.
The team, after interacting with
faculty of the Rajiv Gandhi University on Thursday, has proposed to
collaborate with the varsity to spread awareness about child rights at
various levels in the state, protected by the Constitution.
To
redress the grievances of the Chakma students who were denied admission
beyond the middle school level at Dharampur, Diyun and Ratanapur, when
the NCPCR took up the case with the GoAP in-charge chief secretary and
education commissioner during a high level discussion Thursday, the
latter assured to consider upgradation of those schools.
Moreover, the team would meet CBSE authorities at Guwahati to ensure action, Sinha informed.
She
regretted that Juvenile Justice Boards (JJBs), Child Welfare Committees
(CWCs) and Special Juvenile Police Unit (SJPUs), mandatory to be
functional in each district of the country, were existing only on paper
in the state, in violation of constitutional provisions.
Dixit
pitched in to add that the Supreme Court in tune with Juvenile Justice
(Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2000 has directed the
constitution of JJBs, CWCs and SJPUs to be coordinated by the State
Legal Services Authorities with the respective child welfare department
for compliance.
While taking note of non-functional or
non-formation of JJBs and CWCs in many districts and cities, the apex
court while disposing off a writ petition - Sampurna Behura Vs Union of
India on Oct 12, 2011 - had ruled that the home department and DGPs of
states and UTs to ensure creation of JJBs and CWCs and the state and UT
Govts to file affidavit regarding compliance of this order under
Article 21, the order said.
The team is leaving with an indelible
impression about the yeoman's service being rendered by Oju Welfare
Association under the leadership of Biny Maya Yanga for the distressed,
suppressed, oppressed, particularly the girls, Professor Sinha said,
adding Arunachal needs a Binny in every district for the girls to
flourish and serve the society.
On being briefed that K/Kumey
district session judge Repo Ronya in a historic verdict had banned child
marriage quoting customary laws which make child marriage void on Dec
07, 1996, eight days ahead of the Parliament banning child marriage on
Dec 15, 2006. The judge along with SP Hibu Tamang and gaon burahs had
freed about a dozen victims from the clutches of child marriage, she
sought the copy of the verdict and the statics.
On learning that
Arunachalee girls from the age of 'lapiya' (wooden clamp that chains
them forcefully in their in-laws' house) or Lummer Dai's monumental
novel 'Kanya Mulya' (Bride price) reflecting the agonies of the young
girls have revolted against the age-old tradition still in practice, she
quipped, "They are our heroines and should be celebrated and taken to
New Delhi for the nation to know the trendsetters".
When she
insisted that lot more is needed to bring awareness to activate the
civil society for facilitating the girls to become true partner of
nation building, this editor highlighted as to how the Arunachal Pradesh
Women Society (APWWS) has been spearheading against traditional
practice of child marriage, violation of rights of girls and women and
reservation for women in three-tier panchayat to involve them in
decision making process. Their endeavours had resulted in enactment of
Arunachal Pradesh State Commission for Women Act, 2002 (Act No.4 of
2002).
Visibly impressed, Professor Sinha consented that the NCPCR
would issue press releases relating to rights violation issues related
to the state.
On being showered with information that Indian Panel
Code (IPC) is not effective in Arunachal beyond 500 mtrs radius of the
office of the deputy commissioner and even the DCs refer many cases to
the Gaon Burahs for disposal, hinting as the inherent defect in the
Constitution that needs a serious brainstorming session for a policy
decision involving the Parliament, she accepted to say the NCPCR has set
up a NE Cell with the sole objective of ensuring the right of the
children and their qualitative growth. By Pradeep Kumar (ANI)